I'm gonna hold you to that
by Little Miss188
Summary: Set years after the finale. It's Lorelai and Luke's wedding and Rory's come home for the celebration but she's not the only one. Jess has returned.
1. Chapter 1

"Ow, Mom," Rory squirmed as one of her mom's pins poke into her thigh abruptly. She sure didn't remember her mother as being such a hasty seamstress back in the days when she hemmed her plaid skirts or made ball gowns for Chilton.

"Sorry," Lorelai smiled, obviously not too sympathetic because her grin was spread from ear to ear. "It's just," she paused, stepping back to admire her daughter. "Wow."

"Wow? Oh Mom, you really shouldn't have brought me such a pretty dress; you know the rule? The maid of honour is in no way allowed to upstage the bride! We'll have to just un-wowify it."

"Un-wowify it? I'm glad to see the Ivy League education paid off." Rory rolled her eyes. "Anyway, it doesn't matter as far as I'm concerned: I've been waiting for this day so long, I thought I'd become a Miss Havisham. And now it's finally here." Lorelai sat back on her sofa, pulling her daughter down with her and together they admired the living room. Bar the extra bits of Luke's clutter (such as his fishing equipment stacked, all too neatly for Lorelai's liking, in the corner of the room) it looked the same as it did all those moons ago when the pair first started living there.

The phone rang but neither made a move to answer it. They just sat there together, enjoying their rare moments of togetherness. Rory had only just been given the time off to come down for the couple of weeks to help Lorelai prepare for her wedding and soon she'd be off on the campaign trail again. It was rare that they crossed paths but they still kept up communications. Every night at six o'clock they'd ring each other or sometimes Skype, but Paul Anka would start to howl every time he heard the call music so the latter was less often.

The phone rang again but before either could reach it, Luke burst in through the door. "What's the point of you assigning me this _thing," _he frowned, holding out his cell phone in disgust, "if you don't answer my calls from it?" Luke did not mix well with technology, it was proven.

"Maybe I saw it was you and deliberately didn't answer, you ever think about that, huh?" Lorelai teased, that twinkle in her eye as she watched Luke give up in comical exasperation.

"Rory!" he cried, his eyes falling on her. "I thought you only came back at noon!" Rory ran towards him and he enveloped her in a bear size hug. Rory loved his hugs: they felt like home, they smelled of Lorelai, he hugged her the way a dad held his child. "She's grown," he exclaimed, holding her out to take her in. "How's she grown? I read an article the other day saying girls were supposed to stop growing at twenty one and yet here you are defying all the rules!"

"I promise I've not helped myself to any Upelkuchen whilst I've been away." Luke frowned, he rarely understood her cultural references but it didn't matter.

"It's just that you're home! You're home and it feels like ages since you've been home! Have you met up with April yet? She's buzzing to see you again, she keeps on harping on about getting to have a new sister- of course you don't have to call her that, that's just April being April- and she's going through a kind of Jo March kind of phase, which is odd because she's always been more of a scientist, but she's been nagging me to get you to give her some pointers and-"

"Mom, have you been teaching him to talk so fast, because seriously this is some skill for a newbie." Rory asked when he finally paused for breath.

Lorelai finally got up off the sofa and mock hit her fiancé, "Out." He made a face like a kicked puppy. "I'm sorry but it's bad luck to see us in our attire before the wedding."

"I thought that only applied to the bride?"

"What do you know? With us it's kind of a package deal." Lorelai smiled, looking over to Rory who had taken interest in the CDs they'd collated on the table for the band to draw inspiration from.

Luke took his fiancée by her waist. "I wouldn't have it any other way." He said, pulling her in for a kiss but she stopped him.

"I'm serious mister, come back after we've finished and I'll crack open that bottle of wine Liz brought us and we can make a night of it."

"What happened to this whole celibacy thing?" Luke winked, keeping his voice just above a whisper to keep Rory from hearing and cringing.

Lorelai shrugged, "Where's the fun in it? Rory's staying over at Lane's and when Jess gets back I guess you'll have to be staying at the diner for a while just to check he isn't planning of burning the place down whilst your away."

"He's not like that anymore," Believe it or not, Luke was actually very close with his nephew now, a fact that Luke had never thought would be true. Jess had become so mature, he was no longer the ne'er do well that had first come to reside at Stars Hollow all those years ago. "But you're right; I can hardly leave him there alone. He won't know anyone and he isn't that keen on having bonding sessions with TJ."

"Who are you on about?" Rory asked, her ears had perked up when she'd heard his name but she didn't want to make it obvious. Of course things weren't like that anymore. She'd kissed Jess in Philly but that was the last of it, she'd promised herself. At the moment, she couldn't handle being with a boy, she was at such a pivotal moment of her career. But hanging around with Jess again could be fun. They hadn't seen each other in a while and his feelings had probably gone so seeing him could do no harm. Besides, Rory knew they'd run into each other eventually and she didn't fancy the reunion being an extremely awkward session of eye contact whilst Lorelai and Luke exchanged vows at the altar. It shouldn't be like that.

"Jess, hun," Lorelai said, moving over to her to tame a stray hair. "He gets back tomorrow. Staying at Luke's of course."

"Of course," Rory smiled: well now they'd be bound to run into each other before the big day: she'd need her daily coffee fix and it'd be a worse sin than blasphemy to go anywhere else.

Luke knew exactly what Rory was thinking. "The problem is that he'll probably be bored stiff. He never made many friends at high school and if I know Jess he'll be itching to get back to his writing. I'm not going to discourage that but-"

"I couldn't dare leave him to go stir-crazy alone up there." Rory intercepted slyly. "You want me to go collect him tomorrow from the airport?"

Luke stopped, baffled. He wasn't expecting that kind of enthusiasm from her; a mere acknowledgement and promise to talk to him was all he was rooting for. Luke wasn't so sure what terms they'd last ended on but he knew that after her visit Jess had become a little more reclusive. She seemed to do that to him. He'd cage up and give one word answers. Of course, he was still perfectly civil- and this never ceased to amaze Luke- but for a while he'd purposely avoid the subject of the Gilmores.

Maybe they'd had a spat. Despite his polite manners nowadays, Jess still had an uneasy temper and Rory wasn't a doormat. Jess could've said something to upset Rory, god knows she was fragile then due to all of the pressures of studying, any little thing could've brought up bad memories.

Now her proposal seemed to suggest otherwise. Luke wouldn't pry, if he could help it.

"I thought we were going shopping tomorrow? Grandma's coming too, she's invited herself and we have Friday night dinner too. You can't miss that!"

"And I won't, but you're bound to be busy with Sookie tomorrow planning the menu. I love Sookie and all and her food is to die for, but I'd just be in the way. I don't mind going to collect him, we can catch up; I'll be home for lunch and then we can hit the malls and follow it with Friday night dinner, sound plausible?"

"Sounds great," Luke smiled.

Lorelai didn't have the heart to bat him for his obvious attempts at acting Cupid. In the past she'd made no secret about her dislike of Jess but maybe he had changed; after all, he wasn't a bad boy at heart.


	2. Chapter 2

"Speak."

"Wow, who knew you'd gotten so forward with your phone greetings. No "hello, how you doing?" even Ghostface had better manners than you, geez."

Rory rolled her eyes. Did she want her to crash or something? "I'm driving," she explained.

"Get off the phone you maniac!" Lorelai shouted in a tone of mock outrage. "Weren't you the child who wouldn't call me whilst I pedalled my way to work through the fairly safe Stars Hollow? What kind of rebel society is this Obama raising you as?"

"You're on speaker- I'm about to hang up if you don't cut to the chase." Rory teased.

"I'll be as snappy as Edward Scissorhands then... I got up and you'd gone and I thought that we were at least going to have breakfast together and now you're probably on the way to collect Jess or something but I just needed to check you hadn't been abducted by a mass murderer or something like any good mother!"

"Just me, party of one, no George Harvey accomplice or so on," Rory laughed. She was so busy listening to her mother that she didn't notice the small red car poking its nose out of the junction rather rudely trying to push its way into the road. It moved so quickly Rory had to swerve to miss collision. "You idiot!" she yelped out of her window but the red car had already pulled out and was travelling along in the other direction now.

"What was that?"

"Just some idiot who doesn't understand how to drive, Mom do you mind if I ring you back? I'm just nearly at the airport and-"

"No, it's fine I understand. I'll talk to you later chick." Rory let Lorelai hang up the phone and once again her car was in silence.

She hadn't been listening to the radio on the way up because she'd been too lost in her thoughts. Maybe it was a bad thing going to collect Jess at the airport- after all, he'd be expecting Luke and might have a present or something for him, they were really a lot closer now than ever before and Rory shouldn't have wormed her way in. Or what if he was bringing a plus one? Last time he'd heard from her she was still with Logan and so he'd assume she'd have a plus one; it wasn't that Rory didn't want Jess to have a girlfriend, he deserved one and any girl would be lucky to have him, but it would be really odd for her to have to get in the car and watch them reminisce about times when they were together- Rory just couldn't be that cruel.

She'd come to the conclusion that if he did bring a plus one she'd take a vow of silence and only speak if spoken to so as not to intrude and if he did seem disappointed she could always stick on the radio, she knew a station that Jess would like if his taste in music had remained the same.

Such thoughts had occupied her mind so thoroughly that she almost missed the turn in for the airport. The airport was only small and, because of the early hour, the car park was relatively empty so Rory cruised her way into a spot fairly close to the entrance. What should she do now? Had Luke arranged for him to meet up in the arrivals area or had Jess just wanted to find his car in the car park and meet up that way?

Rory concluded that if she rang Luke she'd be making a mountain out of a mole hill, it didn't matter, she'd go in and meet him because if she didn't he'd never find her since she was in her own car and not Luke's truck.

She recognised him the moment she saw him, even if he was missing his typical bomber jacket and crazy hair that she had loved so much. It would've been a downright lie to say he travelled lightly; slung over his shoulder was a blue carryon bag akin to the rucksack Luke had used sometimes for camping, he was wheeling a plain black suitcase but most notable was the sack kind of bag that he was dragging along with his other hand.

"Jess!" she shouted, waving both hands in the air just in case he couldn't see her. _Put your hands down, you look like an idiot. _She flushed bright red when he clocked eyes on her but he just smirked in the way that he only did whenever she embarrassed herself, which had admittedly been a frequent occurrence- or so Rory thought- when he'd lived in Stars Hollow.

"And this is the way they treat weary travellers now at the airport? I've not flown for a while but had I known..."

"Good to see you too Jess." She couldn't help but smile in relief. For a second, she had thought he'd see her and do a U-turn; she deserved no less. And yet here he was, not being just civil but actually pleasant- even if it was in his typical teasing fashion. "How was your flight?"

"I got on a plane, it went in the air, it came back down again, I am here; flights don't tend to vary much."

"Well, I just meant that the food could've been awful, or you could have been delayed or you could've been sat next to a really awful passenger. Like this one time, Grandma and I were on a plane and there was this little kid behind us, and she doesn't like little kids at the best of times, especially whiney ones. Anyway, he started kicking her chair, and I could tell she was getting annoyed but she was trying to be patient but then he started doing it faster and faster and well- she snapped..."

Jess laughed. He hadn't been really listening to the story; some sort of anecdote about Emily Gilmore's withering patience, akin to many other Lorelai had shared in the past he assumed. He had, instead, been watching her hands: Rory Gilmore had this adorable way of expressing herself through her hand actions as well as her speech. When she was excited they'd go flying everywhere with huge gestures, when she was confused she'd use them to point as if the things from her imagination were playing out before her and when she was nervous she'd fiddle with them and fidget. Now she was nervous.

"So, anyway, do you need any help with them?" she gestured towards his luggage.

"I'm okay, I've not packed a lot." he shrugged.

She arched an eyebrow, "Not a lot? Perhaps I'd agree with you if it didn't look like you'd robbed a bank or something!" She made a reach for his sack and he tried to stop her but it was too late. "You didn't!" she exclaimed, pulling the sack open to allow some books to come tumbling out. Titles such as "The Handmaid's Tale" and "The Colour Purple" fell to the floor. "What are you, the book thief?"

"That's in there too," he smirked, making a grab for the tatty copy of Oliver Twist she was studying. "I always like to carry a book with me," he explained in his defence.

She laughed, "So do I, but isn't this excessive?"

"I far prefer using the words "well prepared". Anyhow, I don't know how you're much better; you always used to carry a book with you."

"I still do," she smiled, "just not two hundred of them! Come on; let me take a bag out to the car." He passed her the suitcase and they walked out to the car park together.

* * *

"I honestly thought that the next wedding Stars Hollow would be throwing would be yours." Jess said, his eyes still squinting, focusing on the road. They'd been sat in the car for a good thirty minutes and though, at first, they'd been happily nattering, a silence had fallen. Jess had been the one to break it.

Rory didn't avert her gaze. "Yeah?"

"Yeah," he paused and for a while they sat in silence. "Luke told me that he'd asked you. I'm glad you said no."

Rory nodded, "I think I am too. Logan wanted something off me that I just couldn't give him, commitment." Then she laughed. It was ironic because, before Rory, Logan had been the one unable to commit; he'd been off gallivanting with several different women and disowning the theory of monogamy and yet he'd given it up to be Rory's "boyfriend".

When she came to think of it, she'd always been the one pushing for more so it was odd that she'd even considered saying no to his proposal. She'd changed. For ages she'd been dependent on Logan, dependent on having a guy there to guide her and she'd never been short of offers really: maybe she'd gone to Logan in desperation. She couldn't deny that she'd loved him but she wasn't about to sell her soul to marry him. In the end, he'd come from a line of family where the females were expected to stay at home and look after the children, his family had warned them that it would never work out but being so angry at them that they refused to accept it.

Jess looked over to her, "You couldn't have gotten married to him, you wouldn't have been happy. When you came visiting me you weren't happy, he wasn't right for you Rory."

"Do I look happy now?" she asked, arching an eyebrow.

"You look driven, and that pleases you so yes. You were always a powerhouse kind of girl."


	3. Author's Message

**Author's Message:**

**Just thought I'd let you know that I haven't disappeared or anything! I've written a few bits of**

**different chapters and I've fully done the end one but that's of no use at this stage isn't it?**

**Unfortunately, my brain doesn't work linear! Also, I'm just finishing up my essay for a writing**

**competition (blame my teacher for a delay too) but I promise you'll get an update this week! Should**

**I give you a hint? :)**


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